"don't get a grizzly 660, they've fallen behind in the power end, which is why yamaha will be coming out with a new bigger one soon i'm guessing."


Fallen behind on the power end? Are you crazy? I can outrun the Polaris Sportsman 700 up to 52 mph. But remember one thing, it s a utility atv, not a racing one. If I wanted just fast, I d have bought a raptor or something in the racing line. The only reason the Grizz will go to a 800 is to stay on top. Most people want the "BIGGEST" thing out there. So, in order to compete, the Grizz has to up to 800 also. The reputation is already there. An 800 Grizz is a word everyone else is fearing.

But you know what, the Grizz has set the standard that others are trying to catch. And really the only thing the BF can say is its faster........so what. The SP800 is .....faster..... again so what. Put em in some mud, in some real world situation and see what good faster really does. NUTTIN. And what do most people compare other big bores against? The Grizzly.

Also remember the 800 is the limit. Alot of states have limits set for quad and then they require being registered, tagged, etc etc. So the odds of going over 800 are very slim.

And why should I have to "tap" the gas to get it to stop sliding?

He said he wanted something with power, good going up and down hills, and great in the mud. The BF has a hard enough time keeping the front end down, why would you recommend it for hill climbing.? The Polaris and the 2 wheel enging braking.....nope. And for mud? Thats a no brainer, the Grizz is the king of mud.

Brad

 

I disagree with the bad rap for the Polaris going up and downhills. I agree that it takes getting used to only having one brake lever...but I have descended a >48 degree slope of about 200 feet in length.....and never touched the brake...in fact I had to use the gas to get my speed above a crawl. I have had the engine braking take me so slow the wheels start to slide...a little gas and your back in control. 4 wheel engine braking can be a little disconcerting also. I prefer the 2 wheel engine braking. Additionally on my other bikes/ATCs etc I always worried about beginners.....the polaris with a balanced brake system makes it impossible for the rider to panic and endo over the handlebars.

As for the not making it to the top of a steep hill and having to back down....there is no quad out there that you wont suck half the seat cushion up between your cheeks on before you get to the bottom. I prefer going up till I can't go any farther...then winching to the top.

 

haha, that post is hilarious. if you think the current grizzly is the "flagship" of all the 4x4s on the market, then you need to wake up to reality. you seemingly admit the the griz is one of the slowest, but you say how yours can beat a sp700 so i ask, is that an EFI? and either way, the new polaris flagship model is the 800 efi, so yamaha is behind polaris there. who do most people compare other big bores to? certainly not the grizzly. put them in the mud, ok, well polaris usually seems to get the nod when it comes to mudding with their 4x4 system rated as one of the best, but lets just look at the grizzly, that 22 mph speed limit in 4x4 lock mode sure isn't something that i'd want, i like to have FULL power to all 4 wheels when i get in a sticky spot.

face the facts, the grizzly was a great machine for it's day, but it's not with the elite new big bores. i even read in some magazine, i think it was dirtwheels or 4 wheel atv action, where the were talking about the upcoming shootout they were gonna have with the new big bores. they said something like we'll probably include the grizzly and rincon, even though yamaha and honda are gonna have to up the anty to stay with this new group. The new elite big bore sport utes are the Sportsman 800, King Quad 700, Kawasaki Brute Force 750 and Prairie 700. all others in the same catagory are currently a notch below.

 

Just wanted to add that I prefer the rear engine braking only once you get used to it. I have had buddies sliding down hills with all four wheels skidding, think here no additonl control from the brakes, no steerong while the front tires are skidding. With my polaris the rear will slide easier than if all fours were gopng but I maintain tracton on the fron and control steering, the brakes are 70% front 30% rear from the lever(numbers might be a little off but you get the picture) so you can control the front braking with the brakes and easily add or let up when needed.

I'm not saying this is the best system or not but it is what I prefer.

 

Listen up guys/girls: FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT ALL BIG BORES CAN HANDLE WHAT Syclone IS ASKING FOR. And some here is doing that but others need it to be a little clearer. What get's me is the people that are too lazy to do some researching and just ask whats best etc... Syclone is not asking that here!!! He's trying to do some research so don't tell him "if mud is what you are in then you need brand X. Each ATV has downfalls and good points. So tell him what you like and dislike ONLY ON THE MACHINE YOU KNOW and drive and don't compare to a machine that you don't use. That's why CC1999 is so respected here on my POV because he only talks from experience.

I'm on a Kawi 700, haven't been offroad on the BF but drove one around a dealership. I'll mainly talk about the 700. The Kawi can be very dependable well with acceptable amount of repairs. It also has extendend warrenty from Kawi available. I have a lot of hard miles on my 700 and no issue yet except for it overheated once and the belt sensor on the 100 is trip my 700 to limp mode. When that happens it's no biggie you don't even need to get off the seat of your bike to reset it. I like the idea here but for people that do regular maintance it's an overkill. The 4x4 system on the 700 is the Same on the BF and I like it period. I have 2 wheeldrive, 4x4 by switch and a diffi lock on a system the more you pull the more it locks. I also have a quick release strap that allows me to leave it locked but I find I don't use it offen so I don't miss having a locker that doesn't stay locked. Horsepower; well there's enough there and the Kawi puts that power on the ground very well. Deep water; well the carbs sink first. and all machines will sink with the airbox breathers under water. I will travel inbetween the tires and the fenders with no problems however I don't personnelly feel like drowing my machine because I want it to last a very long time and if I pull water in my air box it's twice as expensive because there is 2 of everything. Hills are great, I like the gas tank under the bike and it has a great center of gravity. No problems going downhill infact if you put it in low you almost don't use the brake period but the brakes work great. This machine also loves sand beds. I have no complaints on the ride on a comfort side. The gas milage is not where I would like it but I have fun on it and I guess that's what counts. The BF also has some water issuses but that's been resolved including carb issues. I will not be buying a BF until spring because it's still to new for me. In summary the 700Kawi and the BF should be a conseration.

 

Did you say sand friendly? No other utility ATV even comes close to the performance of a Prairie 700 in the sand, ... period. That probably isn't what you had in mind though, is it.

I have owned a Prairie 650, a Prairie 700, and three Grizzly 660s, and from what I have experienced, the Prairie's are more reliable. We have had zero problems with either of our Prairies. We had a 2003 Grizzly that vapor locked; a 2004 Grizzly that I broke a front axle CV joint on, that never vapor locked; and another 2004 Grizzly that had the vapor lock problem, and has been fixed. Despite this, our Grizzlys have overall been very reliable ATVs, they just don't have the perfect track record our Prairies have had. My wife still rides one of our 2004 Grizzlys and refuses to let me buy her another ATV, she wants to keep her Grizzly.

Just going from what I have personally experienced, the Grizzlys are capable of getting through more technically difficult terrain than the Prairie's, but the Prairie's are a whole lot more fun to get there on, and a lot faster as well.

And just to clear this up, ... the belt on a Prairie makes no more noise than any other belt, but the straight cut gears in the transmission of a Prairie whine more than the worlds biggest Hoover vacume cleaner. The straight cut gears are used by Kawasaki because they are stronger than bevel cut gears, and in case no one noticed, that v-twin used by Kawasaki makes the most power [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. The noise from a Kawasaki's transmission is a "reassuring" sound once you know why the transmission makes that sound, and it is not a reason to shy away from purchasing one. An HMF exhaust "fixes" the noisy transmission problem easy enough though [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img].

Good luck with whatever you choose Syclone, and have fun out there.

OuterLimit

 

Ok, my dad just bought a 2005 sportsman 600 twin. It has all the power you could possibly want and I am sure the 800 has just that much more. According to the Polaris website they are both 765lbs dry weight, 760 and 597 cc's for each. I put about 15 miles on my dads new one this weekend and that thing is by far the worst handling machine I have ever driven and I have been riding wheelers for many years. If you get is stuck you might as well call a nearby company with heavy machinary to come pull you out. I was seriously dissapointed. I think Polaris needs to get a clue and start making lighter utility quads. With the new sportmans you don't need riding skill, they are just big POS automatic tanks.


When we went riding after, my dad who has been riding for years took the 600 twin and couldn't keep up with my wolvy for the life of him. The only place he had me was the long staight stretches in acceleration. Even the top end we were close. Anywhere you need to turn that Polaris is a POS.


I am not trying to simply bash polaris, I like my dads 2001 500 HO and he likes it better too. He just bought the new one because it was a hell of a deal. We have a big lawn to mow and a big pull behind mower. I think he just bought himself a 600 twin lawn mower.

 

I never said the Grizz is the flagship, I said it set the standard that everyone else is trying to catch up.

The diff lock on 05 has an over ride, so go as fast as you like. Or if you dont like that, buy the $10 kit and do away with it, problem solved. When I want 4wd, I WANT IT. I use it for rock crawling and other things. But on the sportsman, you re not in 4wd until the rear wheels slip. I dont want the wheels to slip, I WANT 4WD.

Have you wondered why Yamaha hasnt released a 700, 750 or 800 yet?" They didnt need to, sales on the Grizzly are still strong but yes they will do something bc of all the hype of the new big bores. People now want twin cylinders and 800 cc. NOT bc they need it but bc its becoming the "in" thing, everyone wants to be "bigger than his buddy". The 800 motor is there, all they have to do is install it.

The sportsman 700 is a 683 not a 700. The SP800 is a 760 not a 800. The grizzly is a 660. So, I guess the Grizzly is really a 700 going by Polaris rules. You know Yamaha couldve just put some 700 stickers on the 05s and called them that.

I m not arguing with you or bashing you but you simply told the guy NOT to buy a Grizzly bc its underpowered. And thats simply not true. He didnt ask for an "elite" machine, he ask for which would be best for what he wanted. And I ve stated why I think the Grizzly would be an excellent choice. Would you have ruled it out if it had 700 stickers on it instead? And I havent said any of them suck or shouldnt be considered. I ve told you why I wouldnt chose some of them, why I didnt like some of them, and things on some that I didnt like.

Everything I ve stated have been facts. And I dont want to hear about magazine reviews. I can show you different articles from different magazines and they ll all have different winners. You pay the money and you win. Shot give me a Polaris 800 and I ll swear its the best thing since sliced bread. Everyone knows you dont buy a performance car based on Motor Trend 1/4 mile times. If they want to impress me with a review, put some friggin different tires on the Grizzly..........on all of them. Stock tires suck.

And just so you know, one of my best friends has a SP 700. I dont bash him and he doesnt bash me. We both like what we bought. (It wasnt the EFI that I raced. I know the EFI are faster but I dont want EFI, just something else to screw up. ) But again its a utility quad, I dont care about top end speed. The fastest I go in the woods is 25......30 mph tops. We avg about 15 mph. The grizzly isnt the fastest but it has a ton of torque. And you said it was underpowered. Have you rode one or are you magazine comparing again? If so, was it tuned? The grizzly comes from the factory very rich, they do need to be tuned.

Again, I m not bashing you and I dont want to argue. In my opinion you just ruled it out and without a good reason.

Brad

 

i'm not bashing grizzly's here but they aren't the standard everyone is trying to catch up to, maybe they were at one time, but not anymore.

 

This ones good, I can't resist. Polaris needs to get a clue and lighten up their utility quads? YEAH, and yamaha needs to get a clue and beef up their race bikes because their too fast. Does that make any more sense? No, you need to get a clue and realize it is a UTILITY quad. Ya wanna hook that wolfy up to the polaris? You want to see who can plow more snow? Ya wanna go muddin? Sure they are different than a sra quad when turning but all you have to do is use body language, anybody that can ride can get use to it. You said you don't need riding skills to ride the big POS.........then it must handle pretty good. If you can't ride it,it would be a lack of riding skill. I'm sure you get that part.